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As an advertiser, you want as many people to see your messaging as possible. From billboards to commercials, only the most prominent locations and times will do! Well, if that’s the case, have you considered tapping into the high school sports world yet?

According to a survey conducted by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS), during the 2009-10 school year, approximately 336 million fans attended high school regular-season and playoff games in football and girls and boys basketball. That’s more than two-and-a-half times the 133 million spectators who attended events in those sports at the college and professional levels combined, and the number is expected to increase over time.

While the sheer number of consumers is impressive, what makes this captive audience truly unique is its makeup: teens and tweens, men and women. Unlike professional sporting events, attendance is split between men and women as proud parents come to support their children.

It has become obvious that high school sporting events open a gateway for advertisers to reach families with children that other advertising opportunities simply do not allow for.

Ready to learn more about the high school sporting event audience? Read on!

Teens and Tweens Take Control of Spending

From athletes to swooning admirers, high school sporting events are filled to the brim with high school and middle school students. This audience’s buying power has increased exponentially over the past few decades with influence over billions of dollars in spending each year. According to FutureOfChildren.org, “In 2002, U.S. four- to twelve-year-olds spent $30 billion.American twelve- to seventeen-year-olds spent $112.5 billion in 2003. In 2003, 33 million U.S. teens aged twelve to nineteen each spent about $103 a week.”

Teens and tweens in most households control many family decisions; from vacation locations to dinnertime meals, the power adolescents have over the household purse strings these days has made the youth market a highly desirable one for a wide variety of businesses. In fact, FutureOfChildren.org states, “Experts estimate that two- to fourteen-year-olds have sway over $500 billon a year in household purchasing. Thus, to influence youth is to influence the entire family’s buying decisions.”

Moms and Dads Play Big Roles, TooWhat no professional sporting event could offer advertisers is high school sporting events’ ability to gather women in one place. Like the youth category, women are taking a bigger role in controlling household income. Women are earning, spending and influencing spending at a greater rate than ever before, accounting for $7 trillion in consumer and business spending in the U.S., according to MediaPost.

While it may be presumed the man of the house makes decisions regarding electronics and vehicles, the times are changing. MediaPost points out that 68 percent of new car purchase decisions are made by women, the same women who influenced $90 billion of consumer electronic purchases in 2007.

But don’t rule out fathers just yet. The other half of doting parents filling the stands at sporting events are young dads who, according to the Microsoft Advertising Community Blog, spend more money than mom. “Young fathers spend $400 a month on media, $100 more than young moms.” More importantly, half of young dads are brand loyal: “50 percent consider themselves loyal to a particular brand within the auto and tech categories.”

What does this mean for your brand? Well, if you are advertising at high school sporting events, it means your brand can earn the trust of moms and dads alike. About 93 percent of consumers will be more loyal to a company that participates in corporate social responsibility and would be more likely to switch to brands that support their community in ways like school sponsorship.

Consumers have become increasingly savvy over the past decade regarding their advertising preferences. Toll-free phone calls are screened and billboards are simply ignored as busy commuters organize hands-free conference calls on their way to work. But perhaps the advertising vertical that took the biggest hit over the past few years was print.

Your buyers disregard direct mail, tossing it into the recycling bin without a second glance. Magazines have folded by the dozens, and newspapers are being delivered less often or canceled in favor of online news outlets. In fact, newspaper revenues from print advertising have declined from $44.9 billion in 2003 to $18.9 billion in 2012.

Marketers who want to reach consumers in their homes have likely experienced challenging times and will continue to do so. Because buyers have begun picking and choosing the advertisements they take in, now is the time to consider branded sponsorship.

What are some branded sponsorship opportunities?

Facility naming rights have expanded from a small, niche vertical of the advertising industry to an extremely valuable marketing tool for companies of almost any size across the country.

Imagine seeing your logo gracing the entrance of a hometown arena or atop a scoreboard where every one in that arena will be focusing their attention. Billboards no longer offer the advertising return on investment you may have been used to in the past; however, high school sports arenas offer the opportunity for advertisers like you to put your brand’s name in front of a captive audience.

In recent years, the opportunities for brands to advertise within schools and on school property have grown substantially and offered an alternative to dying print advertisement. Whether your target audience is millennials [LINK to previous blog], stay at home moms or entire families, schools and their facilities are the perfect place for your advertising to not only be seen, but also noticed by your target audience.

Sport arena options for advertisers include:

Media and print visibility

Press box naming rights

Main gate and ticket office naming rights

Concession stand sponsorship

Scoreboard sponsorship

Field signage and logo

Premier home seating sponsorship

And much more!

Branded Sponsorships are Not Limited to Arenas

Several other areas available for advertising can help your company create sustainable opportunities for engagement with young consumers, as well as a non-traditional revenue stream. School entryways, cafeteria and hallway walls, even lockers and school newsletters offer alternative places for brands to advertise to high school students and their families. These advertising options engage students of all ages and offer a scalable opportunity to grow, especially in the millennial market—one of the most lucrative generations thus far.

Why take a chance on traditional print advertisements? Branded school sponsorship provides your company the platform for consistent messaging targeted to your audience—whether it be by age, location, venue or channel. With so few advertising options left where consumers of all ages will see your logo day in and day out, school sponsorship boosts your advertising impact and delivers results.

Join us next time as we discuss target audiences available to brands within schools and accompanying school venues. To learn more about branded sponsorship opportunities in your area, contact us today.

Consumers have become increasingly savvy over the past decade regarding their advertising preferences. Toll-free phone calls are screened and billboards are simply ignored as busy commuters organize hands-free conference calls on their way to work. But perhaps the advertising vertical that took the biggest hit over the past few years was print.

Your buyers disregard direct mail, tossing it into the recycling bin without a second glance. Magazines have folded by the dozens, and newspapers are being delivered less often or canceled in favor of online news outlets. In fact, newspaper revenues from print advertising have declined from $44.9 billion in 2003 to $18.9 billion in 2012.

Marketers who want to reach consumers in their homes have likely experienced challenging times and will continue to do so. Because buyers have begun picking and choosing the advertisements they take in, now is the time to consider branded sponsorship.
What are some branded sponsorship opportunities?
Facility naming rights have expanded from a small, niche vertical of the advertising industry to an extremely valuable marketing tool for companies of almost any size across the country.
Imagine seeing your logo gracing the entrance of a hometown arena or atop a scoreboard where every one in that arena will be focusing their attention. Billboards no longer offer the advertising return on investment you may have been used to in the past; however, high school sports arenas offer the opportunity for advertisers like you to put your brand’s name in front of a captive audience.
In recent years, the opportunities for brands to advertise within schools and on school property have grown substantially and offered an alternative to dying print advertisement. Whether your target audience is millennials , stay at home moms or entire families, schools and their facilities are the perfect place for your advertising to not only be seen, but also noticed by your target audience.
Sport arena options for advertisers include:
• Media and print visibility
• Press box naming rights
• Main gate and ticket office naming rights
• Concession stand sponsorship
• Scoreboard sponsorship
• Field signage and logo
• Premier home seating sponsorship
• And much more!
Branded Sponsorships are Not Limited to Arenas and Stadiums.
Several other areas available for advertising can help your company create sustainable opportunities for engagement with young consumers, as well as a non-traditional revenue stream. School entryways, cafeteria and hallway walls, even locker wraps and school digital e-newsletters offer alternative places for brands to advertise to consumers with school age families. These advertising options engage consumers of all ages and offer a scalable opportunity to grow, especially in the millennial market—one of the most lucrative generations thus far.
Why take a chance on traditional print advertisements? Branded school sponsorship provides your company the platform for consistent messaging targeted to your audience—whether it be by age, location, venue or channel. With so few advertising options left where consumers of all ages will see your logo day in and day out, school sponsorship boosts your advertising impact and delivers results.
Join us next time as we discuss target audiences available to brands within schools and accompanying school venues. To learn more about sponsorship opportunities in your area, contact us today.

Imagine having the ability to create a life-long customer, building that relationship over time, starting from when that consumer was still in grade school. The loyalty and lifetime value of just that one consumer could potentially be quite significant.

Perhaps you could even build that bond with hundreds or even thousands of young consumers with the added bonus of a built-in feel-good factor: helping students get the education they deserve. That opportunity now exists by simply helping your brand become a school sponsor.

Why Consider School Advertising?

You have the ability to advertise just about anywhere these days from billboards to social media. But how many of those opportunities offer highly specific target audience data, the potential to create lifelong customers and the chance to help students reach their potential? The answer? Just one—becoming a school sponsor brand.

Check out the top three reasons to consider marketing your brand in public schools:

Targeting Consumer Base: In Jefferson County Public School District just outside of Denver, Colorado, 85,000 students took home report cards with an ad from the college-savings program CollegeInvest, and they will continue to do so for the next three years. Talk about a target audience!

No matter your product or service, chances are one of your buyer personas is alive and well in a public school system throughout the U.S., and school sponsorship is the perfect way to reach them. Sponsorship gives your brand a scalable opportunity to grow your brand while penetrating the K-12 marketplace ripe with student and parent consumers.

Because the school environments are controlled, your brand will be in the spotlight without the clutter of traditional advertising outlets. This newfound attention can help you reach not only students, but teachers and parents, as well.

Developing Lifelong Relationships with Young Consumers: The drugstore giant CVS recently promoted its flu shot campaign in both Virginia and Florida schools with colorful signs at football games. But the brand didn’t stop there; it had CVS branding at school entrances and placed ads in district e-newsletters, directly reaching thousands of validated emails.

You know a flu shot is recommended once a year—if CVS earns the trust of those districts, there is a strong potential mothers will continue to take their children to CVS for their flu shots every single year—and it is highly likely those children will, in turn, continue to get their flu shots at a CVS location as they grow and have families of their own.

However, CVS offers much more than flu shots. Now, because they have built brand loyalty from a young age, students from Virginia and Florida may make CVS their first stop for other prescriptions, office supplies, greeting cards and other everyday needs.

Helping Students Receive the Education They Deserve: According to the Cone 2006 Millennial Cause Study, millennials are a civic-minded generation made up of 78 million consumers who want to make a difference in the world. Of this group, 78 percent believe that companies have a responsibility to join them in this effort. In fact, these millennials have expressed interested in rewarding (or punishing) companies based on their commitment to social causes.

School advertising helps your brand fill this social responsibility while helping students achieve a quality education and creating new customers in the process.

When Schools and Companies work together it is the children that benefit the most.

“Our budget was cut again! I’d love to buy new computers for all of my students, but we don’t have any money. “I must have heard that exact same thing said to me from every school superintendent that I met with over the years in my role as a senior marketing and sales executive in the education technology industry. For an educator to know that they can’t provide the necessary resources to improve the mandated educational outcomes of their students is the hardest thing that they have to deal with. It is unconscionable to me that educators who got into teaching to impact student learning spend most of their time and efforts either trying to pass tax levies, or lamenting what resources to cut when they inevitably fail.

For more than thirty years I worked in corporate America for some of the largest computer companies in the industry. Focusing on the education vertical, I spent day after day working in partnership with school districts to help implement technology learning initiatives. I have a tremendous passion and respect for the educators who dedicate their lives to helping children achieve. It’s heartbreaking to me that instead of focusing on educational outcomes, educators instead spend most of their time in budget crisis mode. Schools are put in an incredibly tough position as government requirements such as “No Child Left Behind” are mandated and funding is cut. The burden of school funding falls primarily on the local community. When tax levies or bonds fail, which the majority do, schools are forced to cut teachers, programs, busing, and extracurricular activities. Students suffer, and that isn’t OK with me !!!

After a whole lot of soul searching I decided that I needed to do something in my life and my career that had a direct social impact. I know that as a parent I don’t want my three children going to a school without all of the necessary resources they need to succeed. And as someone who has worked intimately with school districts for many years I wanted to find a way to help positively solve the funding crisis that every school faces.

Therefore, I decided to launch Hunter Education Capital. Our mission is to connect schools and corporations to form mutually beneficial revenue producing partnerships. I am able to leverage my thirty years of marketing experience, (having partnered directly with some of the largest Fortune 500 companies in the world), and be able to deliver results to grateful school districts as we form corporate educational partnerships and open up additional and significant streams of revenue. I sincerely believe that Hunter Education Capital has become the premiere agent for K12 alternative funding. Each and every day I wake up now, I feel incredibly fortunate and blessed. As I work with school districts to negotiate deals that bring maximum revenue for the naming rights to their athletic stadiums or gymnasiums, funding to support their STEM school, or sponsorship dollars so that they can afford to not have to cut busing, teachers, or other critical services I am able to feel such a passion and satisfaction for the good that I am helping to bring to that community. Schools are realizing that they are able to leverage the assets that they already have by branding the district in education appropriate ways that they never thought possible. Hunter Education Capital is able to help districts maximize those efforts without the district needing to dedicate additional personnel or time. When schools no longer have to choose a lower quality of education by having less teachers and resources for their students, then my mission will have been a success!

Hunter Education Capital

Schools are put in an incredibly tough position: as government requirements are mandated and funding is cut, the burden of school funding falls on the local community. When tax levies fail, which a majority do, schools are forced to cut jobs, programs, and extracurricular activities. Students suffer, and that isn’t OK with us.